Hi everyone. When I joined up you asked for some pics of my work. Here you are:

This one is a Fairfield Models CSL Pullman. I remotored it, installed DCC, fixed the paint job. (It had a black roof, and bright red doors) and put in windows. Nice runner!

These are shots of my SN Berry Car. This one got remotored DCC, painted, Custom traxx decals, and windows.

Next up is a PE "Ten" Paint, remotor, decoder, The drive is being fine tuned, then I'll do the windows, lights etc.

Last up is a neat little PE steeplecab. I've just started on this one, but the remotor and decoder are in, and it runs like a Kato! I need some 2 mm shafting for the drive shaft. This is an early run that had the rubber hose between the trucks. That makes them bind. The drive shaft ends are joined by a piece of silicone fuel line. This lets me get the drive shaft the correct length! It needs work on the body before painting, but I got it at a fair price. Fixer uppers are fun!

More coming. I have a wood Boxmotor, a Portland Combine, and a Long Beach 12 in the paint shop.

While All the traction models that I built were on O scale, I know from talking to the HO guys that the drives that you are using have a problem in that the car isn't heavy enough to overcome the pull of the drive belts on a sharp curve.

You might want to look at the Stanton power trucks, available from NWSL, or the "Black Beetle" ones out of Australia.

I'm aware of the Stanton, and of the Hollywood Foundry products. Nice stuff, however, I've just laid out a rather tidy sum for the cars themselves. I happened to have some large can motors available (Sagami & NWSL 22 x 40's) which are at present mounted on A-Line motor cradles. The cars are heavier than you might expect! That PE Ten weighs about what a Genesis GP-7/9 does! The Steeplecab has strips of lead soldered into the body, by Suydam, not me It is good and heavy. The lead strips are actually going to make it hard for me to light the litle bugger! I will consider some of those underfloor power trucks, selectively, when the hobby purse recovers from the initial investment of the models. I have done the same thing over on the Southern Pacific side of my modeling. Buying non sound models, and adding sound later and so forth. Those 22 x 40 cans are too large for what steamers I have left to re-motor, and my E's and F's are very adequtely powered, so the motors find a home, and things get moving (no pun intended )

More pics guys. They all need some decal work to get rid of that pesky film. Not to worry, I have a technique . Windows, pole work, light lenses, and such, but as of now all are ready to be run tested, so off to the club where the other members will all go banannas as there is no overhead (because there is no traction!). After they pass the run test, they will be wired for overhead operation and the final cosmetics and lighting done.

The other Ten:

The Portland Combine:

The Boxmotor (my favorite) I always have had a thing for baggage RPO & Express equipment!)

One left to get the treatment, my Long Beach Twelve, and one remotor, my Blimp, then back to the SN stuff for a Labelle SN coach build, and a recondition of a brass obs, the Bidwell. Hope you like. PS: for those who kindly advised me about drives, I did check the weight on these models. They average about 11 ounces. We'll see how they run at the club!

True, and these are mostly all large interurbans, which wouldn't go around streetcar curves anyway. I do have some streetcar models, but those are all Bowser or Bachmann models, and one Con-Cor PCC, and all have been tuned to handle 5 3/4" radius curves except the Birney. That one handles them out of the box!

Great photos! I love the "Tens", nos 1054 and 1042. They're my favorite PE equipment. The Sacramento Northern "Niles" combine, aka the "Berry Car" is also a favorite of mine. I gotta learn how to paint my Suydams like that.

I came back to this area of the forum to admire the photos of Espeefan's painted traction models and I noticed that his models lack couplers. When Espeefan decides to add couplers to his models (if he hasn't done so, yet), I wonder which brand he plan to use? I am the proud owner of a number of Suydam HO brass interurban cars. But, I do not have couplers for them.

I know that there are several independent model railroad manufacturers that make HO scale couplers, but I've put off buying from them because I've been searching the internet for Suydam couplers. I've been searching for a while, now. But I've had no success. I am certain my lack of success is due to the fact that Suydam couplers are, like the models themselves, more than four decades old.

But, I'm NOT giving up. I'm going to keep searching the internet, including eBay. I also want to ask members of this forum if they know anyone who may have these rare (and used) Suydam couplers in their collection and if they're willing to part with them. Suydam couplers come in two groups, item# S-154 "interurban wide swing" couplers and item# S-176 "simulated Tomlinson" couplers. Know anyone who wants to sell their Suydam couplers? I'd appreciate it if you'd pass the information on to me.